Before the Ignition
by jayknewc
Summary: A Bellarke camping trip that takes place BEFORE the two have developed deep feelings for each other. Please comment your advice, I really only want to get better at this.


"I swear to God, if your mom doesn't sanction a mission soon, I'm going by myself."

"You won't be by yourself."

Clarke forced a soft smile and watched, as Bellamy shifted his jaw and walked away.

The next morning when Clarke walked out of her tent she saw Bellamy sitting across her, leaning his back on two fully stuffed backpacks.

His face was scrunched up from the sun glowing on his eyes and his hands were playing with the grass underneath him. When he saw Clarke he stood up and grabbed the backpacks, giving one to her. His face became less playful.

"Hey we should really leave right now," he mumbled, avoiding the fact that she was wearing only a tank top and underwear. "I have a way out of the camp. You should go eat something and get dressed but then right after we can go."

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier? We could have left hours ago."

He glanced at her and joked, "you need as much beauty sleep as possible."

Clarke made a small laugh and figured he was probably right. She hadn't seen herself in the mirror since before her arrest, but she knew she must have been covered in scars, cuts, and bruises by now. She touched her face and wondered if she looked older.

The two met up at the back of the camp where there was less patrol than the gates, but only this time Bellamy had guns.

"How did you get those?" Clarke gasped.

"I'm a criminal," he said as he tossed one over to her and rolled his eyes. "I stole them. But we have to hurry before they check the supplies. Look, I stacked these empty crates on top of each other next to the fence so all we have to do is climb up them and jump. I think it'll work. No ones really out here right now anyway because of breakfast so this is ideal."

Clarke began climbing and took a breath before she jumped.

"You ok?" Bellamy shouted in a whisper from across the fence.

"I'll be better when we get to Mount. Weather."

Bellamy was quick to meet her and soon they were off to save the 100 as a team.

"I think we should set up camp here for the night."

The two spoke very little so far during their trip, besides the occasional "Did you hear that?" and "BELLAMY STOP HUMMING SO MUCH."

Clarke put down her backpack and began making a fire while Bellamy set up a shelter.

"Hey is it ok that I only brought one tent? I can sleep outside if you want." His voice was a little shaky and he regretted only bringing one. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's plenty of room in there for both of us," Clarke said before she went to gather more wood.

Bellamy hated himself when he looked at her walk away.

_The night had fallen and the two campers had already memorized the rescue plan for the next day. They both sat near the fire criss cross applesauce and Clarke was straight up impressed Bellamy could still sit like a first grader. And sometimes even behave like one.

The pair sat in silence for most of the night thinking to themselves, until Bellamy spoke up in a low voice, not breaking his eyes away from the fire.

"No disrespect to your mom, and I'm really happy that we have reinforcements and more people survived from the Ark, but l can't help but feel everything would run smoother if we were still in charge of things."

Clarke poked the fire with a stick and agreed. "They have to understand that we can't keep the same rules we had on the Ark. They don't respect us and won't even help break their own children free. We're prisoners again."

Bellamy shifted to turn to Clarke and suggested "Maybe when we come back from Mount Weather we could start a new camp, just for those who don't want to be under the Arks control."

"Yeah," Clarke laughed, "Because we can do whatever the hell we want."

"I wasn't joking. Obviously it's not a good idea but if we get back to camp and they still treat us like criminals than we should just leave."

"I don't know," Clarke said, "I think we should talk more about it later. Once we get everyone out and safe."

"Ok."

"Cool."

The two campers stopped talking and sat in a comfortable silence. Bellamy regretting not talking to Clarke the entire trip besides details on the rescue. He just didn't know what to say to her.

Clarke began dozing off and leaned her head on the palm of her hand to rest in the air. He wished she would lean on his shoulder instead, but he tried not to think about it. He wanted to feel her hair and smell her woodsy scent. He wanted to touch her scars and eyelashes but he tried not to think about that either.

"Hey princess," he poked the half asleep woman besides him. "I think we should get to bed."

Clarke slowly opened her eyes and rolled her eyes. "Ok I'll take care of the fire I'll be in there soon." She stood up and started stepping on the fire to end its flame, while Bellamy nodded and entered the tent, made for obviously one person.

He put the one blanket on one side of the tent for Clarke and laid on the opposite side alone, as far away from where she would be sleeping as possible. He hoped she wouldn't feel nervous about the sleeping arrangements but he was too tired to deal with them now. He closed his eyes to appear asleep, but waited until Clarke entered the tent to relax.

The half asleep Princess, walking around with her eyes half closed and her hair up, grabbed the blanket and immediately laid down next to Bellamy. She didn't seem to mind having their foreheads touch, so he didn't either. She threw the blanket over the both of them and was too tired to notice that Bellamy had pulled his arm around her waist to hold her closer.

It was hard to talk to Clarke about anything not related to Camp, like her drawings, childhood, or even favorite color. But the Clarke that voluntarily snuggled up next to him, convinced him to have a real conversation with her first thing tomorrow morning.


End file.
